Max Verstappen closed the grand prix of farewells in Abu Dhabi with his 15th victory, raising the historic bar for wins in a season to an unattainable height. To the success of the Dutchman, the runner-up position of Checo Pérez could not be added, who was defeated by Charles Leclerc, second and world silver. Sebastian Vettel said goodbye with a discreet 10th place, and Alpine's Fernando Alonso with another retirement. Carlos Sainz closed with a nondescript fourth place.
The last race of the year began with the drivers' hall of honor for Sebastian Vettel, who was retiring in Abu Dhabi after 299 races in 17 F1 seasons and four world titles (2010-13).
It was the culmination of a series of tribute events over the weekend, in which he was the protagonist. He started ninth on the grid sharing the fifth row with Fernando Alonso, who also said goodbye to Alpine and already stated that he "would not overtake" him on the track.
At the exit there was already trouble. Verstappen held onto the preferred pole position from his teammate Pérez, with Leclerc third, while Hamilton slipped past Sainz. The man from Madrid wanted to recover the position and in the fifth corner he entered his Ferrari with impetus, he won the apex, but the Mercedes went into the runaway and flew up the raised curb, cut the curve and recovered the position. The race commissioners interpreted that the Englishman had an advantage, so Hamilton had to return the 5th position. But he recovered it four laps later with a clean overtake.
The best fight of the race was the one between Hamilton and Sainz, and the man from Madrid with Russell, behind. On lap 8, the Ferrari passed the Mercedes again, clearly. "I'm losing power," Hamilton reported. “What's going on?” Russell asked to see his partner falter. "You are free to compete." And the young Englishman attacked the veteran champion to move up to fifth and chase Sainz.
The other interesting battle was offered by Ocon and Vettel for eighth place, with Alonso waiting in 10th, closing in on the German. However, the Spaniard was complicated by losing two places when he returned to the track from his pit-stop. Tsunoda and Stroll slipped past him, leaving him 12th. The Japanese was attacked as soon as he was in front of him to snatch 11th position (v. 25/58), and 10th was won with Vettel's exit to the pit-stop.
The same positions in the top 6 resulted from the dance of stops, with the same order by rows and teams that were on the grid. Sainz was very close to being able to pass Leclerc in third place when he returned to the track, but he stayed behind, without attacking him, since the Monegasque was playing for runner-up.
The race ended for Fernando Alonso on lap 28/58. His Alpine said enough due to a possible water leak, they called him to the pits, and he said goodbye to his third era at Renault with an abandonment, his sixth of the year. A sad end from the Asturian to the French team.
The battle for the runner-up was simmering. He moved the Red Bull card first by putting the second hard on Pérez (v. 34), so the Mexican fell to 6th place that he would go back. But he had doubts as to whether Ferrari would stop Leclerc again, who was second. “At this rate, will we catch Leclerc?” Checo asked on the radio, when he had the Monegasque 10 seconds behind with 15 laps to go, with Hamilton ahead, third. At Ferrari they also had their doubts. “And if we stop and put a medium?”, They asked Leclerc, who did not believe that he could rejoin the lead if he stopped, with so few laps to go.
The guest in the fight was Hamilton, who blocked and stopped Pérez from progressing. The Mexican could not overcome the Mercedes in his first attack. The English returned it for the play last year. On the second attempt he did get past him, but he already had Leclerc at 9.9 seconds with 11 laps to go.
The final duel was served: 10 laps and 8.6 seconds between Leclerc and Pérez, with the Mexican with tires 12 laps newer than those of the Monegasque. With 5 laps to go it was 5.3 seconds. The Mexican pressed. He closed to within 2.7 seconds with two laps to go, to 1.9 on the final lap. Impossible for Checo, who was third in the World Cup.
For his part, Hamilton said goodbye to his 2022 horribilis with a retirement due to a broken gearbox when he was aiming for fourth place. In this way, the Englishman closed the course without a victory, for the first time in his 16 seasons in F1.
